Building information model-based building energy management apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a building energy management apparatus and method. The building energy management apparatus includes a Building Information Model (BIM) analysis unit for receiving and parsing BIM data and then analyzing BIM objects. A building energy object extraction unit extracts building energy objects related to building energy from the BIM objects. A building energy object database (DB) stores a building energy object data into a DB by arranging the building energy objects. A building energy management unit manages energy of a building based on the building energy object data. Accordingly, the present invention provides technology for extracting and managing objects of a building related to the energy of the building based on a BIM, thus efficiently managing building energy.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2013-0009665 filed on Jan. 29, 2013, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety into this application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a building energy managementapparatus and method. More particularly, the present invention relatesto technology for extracting and managing objects of a building relatedto the energy of the building based on a Building Information Model(BIM) required to manage the life cycle of the building (design,construction, start-up, maintenance, etc.), thus efficiently managingbuilding energy.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, due to a remarkable rise in oil prices and an exponentialincrease in power consumption, the need for energy management hasincreased. In order to manage the energy of buildings, it is required tomanage both a part for supplying energy to each building and a part forconsuming the energy of the building. Building energy includeselectricity, gas, water, etc., and methods for supplying such energyinclude methods based on electric equipment and heat source equipment.Gas is converted into thermal energy and supplied to buildings forair-conditioning. The part of the building consuming supplied energyincludes, for example, lighting equipment, electric heating equipment,and heat source equipment in the case of electricity, air-conditioningspaces in the case of thermal energy, and restrooms and shower rooms inthe case of water supply.

Generally, a system for managing the facilities of each building iscalled a Building Automation System (BAS), and mainly denotes a systemfor managing pieces of heat source equipment. A BAS is in charge of thestate management and control of pieces of heat source equipment in abuilding. For example, the inlet and outlet temperatures of cold waterof a chiller/heater, the inlet and outlet temperatures of coolant, theoperations of various types of pumps, and the operations of varioustypes of air-conditioning fans are monitored and controlled. Inconventional technology disclosed in Korean Patent ApplicationPublication No. 10-2010-0075040 or the like, when a BAS is installed, alist of facilities, sensors, and meters installed in each building andlocations thereof are taken into consideration, and the facilities,sensors and meters are mapped to and set in a computer system via manualoperations in most cases, thus enabling various types of information tobe converted into and managed as digital information.

However, such an installation method is disadvantageous in that thenumber of manual operations that must be conducted by persons can beincreased and work time can be lengthened, and in that, when the scaleof each building is increased, a workload and work time show a tendencyto increase in proportion to the scale of the building. Therefore, thereis required a scheme for reducing the need for manual operations by aperson and automatically converting building energy objects into digitalinformation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind theabove problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the presentinvention is to provide a method of reducing the number of manualoperations conducted by persons and automatically extracting as manybuilding energy objects as possible, thus enabling the implementation ofdigital information.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus andmethod that extract building energy objects from BIM data by utilizing aBIM used as a standard in the fields of buildings and convert thebuilding energy objects into digital information in the form of adatabase (DB), and that connect the building energy object DB tosensors, meters, heat source equipment, lighting equipment, etc. in anactual building, thus monitoring the states of the building and managingbuilding energy based on the building energy object DB.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention to accomplish theabove objects, there is provided a building energy management apparatusincluding a Building Information Model (BIM) analysis unit for receivingand parsing BIM data and then analyzing BIM objects; a building energyobject extraction unit for extracting building energy objects related tobuilding energy from the BIM objects; a building energy object database(DB) for storing a building energy object data into a DB by arrangingthe building energy objects; and a building energy management unit formanaging energy of a building based on the building energy object data.

Preferably, the building energy management apparatus may further includea building energy object management unit for managing the buildingenergy object DB.

Preferably, the BIM analysis unit may parse the BIM data through anIndustry Foundation Classes (IFC) browser.

Preferably, the building energy object extraction unit may include amapping table for indicating relationships between the BIM objects andthe building energy objects; and a control unit for transferring objectscorresponding to the mapping table, among the BIM objects, to thebuilding energy object DB, wherein the mapping table can be revised by amanager.

Preferably, the building energy object DB may include an interfaceoperating in conjunction with a sensor or a meter present in thebuilding.

Preferably, the building energy object DB may periodically store dataabout building energy-related actual objects, such as a sensor, a meteror a Building Automation System (BAS) present in the building.

Preferably, the building energy object management unit may add, removeor replace object data of the building energy object DB as a sensor, ameter or a BAS of the building is added, removed or replaced.

Preferably, the building energy management unit may sense a condition ofenergy supply and manage the supply of energy to the building, or sensea condition of energy consumption and manage energy consumption of thebuilding.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention to accomplishthe above objects, there is provided a building energy management methodincluding receiving and parsing Building Information Model (BIM) dataand then analyzing BIM objects; extracting building energy objectsrelated to building energy from the BIM objects; storing a buildingenergy object data into a DB by arranging the building energy objects;and managing energy of a building based on the building energy objectdata.

Preferably, the building energy management method may further includemanaging the building energy object DB.

Preferably, analyzing the BIM objects may be configured to parse the BIMdata through an Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) browser.

Preferably, extracting the building energy objects may be configuredsuch that objects corresponding to a mapping table, among the BIMobjects, are stored in the building energy object DB, the mapping tableindicates relationships between the BIM objects and the building energyobjects, and the mapping table can be revised by a manager.

Preferably, the building energy object DB may include an interfaceoperating in conjunction with a sensor or a meter present in thebuilding.

Preferably, the building energy object DB may periodically store dataabout building energy-related actual objects, such as a sensor, a meteror a Building Automation System (BAS) present in the building.

Preferably, managing the building energy objects may be configured toadd, remove or replace object data of the building energy object DB as asensor, a meter or a BAS of the building is added, removed or replaced.

Preferably, managing the building energy objects may be configured tosense a condition of energy supply and manage the supply of energy tothe building, or to sense a condition of energy consumption and manageenergy consumption of the building.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more clearly understood from the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a building energy management apparatusaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a building energyobject extraction unit; and

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a building energy management methodaccording to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will be described in detail below with referenceto the accompanying drawings. In the following description, redundantdescriptions and detailed descriptions of known functions and elementsthat may unnecessarily make the gist of the present invention obscurewill be omitted. Embodiments of the present invention are provided tofully describe the present invention to those having ordinary knowledgein the art to which the present invention pertains. Accordingly, in thedrawings, the shapes and sizes of elements may be exaggerated for thesake of clearer description.

A building energy management apparatus according to the presentinvention includes a Building Information Model (BIM) analysis unit foranalyzing data about all elements of each building included in a BIM, abuilding energy object extraction unit for extracting building energyobjects from analyzed BIM data, a building energy object database (DB)for storing the extracted building energy objects in a DB, a buildingenergy object management unit for adding, removing or revising storedbuilding energy objects, and a building energy management unit forperforming the management of building energy based on the data stored inthe building energy object DB.

Hereinafter, the operation of the building energy management apparatusaccording to the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a building energy management apparatusaccording to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a building energy management apparatus 100 includesa BIM analysis unit 110, a building energy object extraction unit 120, abuilding energy object DB 130, a building energy management unit 140,and a building energy object management unit 150.

The BIM analysis unit 110 performs tasks for loading a BIM data file 10,parsing all information of a building included in the input fileaccording to the format of a standardized Industry Foundation Classes(IFC) file, and discriminating shapes, attributes, and elements recordedin IFC data. Generally, for efficient and systematic management duringthe life cycle of the building, a BIM is widely used. Currently, a BIMis frequently required by an orderer even when a building isconstructed. “BIM” designates a digital model for providing a reliablebasis for making a decision during the life cycle of facilitiesdepending on the physical or functional characteristics of facilityobjects in all construction fields including construction, engineeringworks, and plants, and also designates task procedures for creating thedigital model. BIM includes BIM objects required to design, construct,and maintain a building, such as the shape information, structureinformation, and internal material information of the building. IFCdenotes a certified international standard specification used toimplement an open BIM in such a way that various software elementsopenly share or exchange model information, and has been used as a BIMdata exchange standard. IFC can be mainly classified into product,process, resource, actor, control, and group. Further, detailedinformation models are defined for respective groups. A modelinglanguage used for definition is EXPRESS, and relationships betweenindividual objects are defined in detail in an object-oriented mannerdepending on the features of the EXPRESS language. Here, “object”denotes a house, a wall, a pillar, a window, etc., and “relationship”means that inclusion, aggregation, dependence, etc. are present betweenobjects.

The BIM analysis unit 110 may use an IFC browser as a tool for utilizingthe BIM, and function to parse the IFC data of the BIM, render theparsed data in a 3D form, and show various types of constructioninformation through the IFC browser. The BIM analysis unit of thepresent invention functions to identify space-based objects andattribute information by parsing the IFC data.

The building energy object extraction unit 120 functions to extractinformation to be managed from the standpoint of building energy, basedon the results of analyzing the IFC data by the BIM analysis unit 110.For example, objects for supplying energy in a building include afreezer, a boiler, a heat charging pump, a cooling pump, a cooling fan,an air-conditioning fan, a damper, a fan coil unit, etc. Cases whereenergy is consumed in a building include a case where heating/cooling isactivated in an indoor space, a case where electric heating power usedby office products or the like is consumed, a case where lighting poweris consumed, etc. In particular, in the case of heating/cooling, energymay be wasted due to doors, windows or blinds of an indoor space, andenergy may also be wasted even when lighting equipment and electricheating equipment are excessively used. Building objects of the indoorspace related to waste may be building energy objects. The buildingenergy object extraction unit 120 functions to extract the aboveobjects, together with the attributes of the objects, as energy objects,from the results of the analysis by the BIM analysis unit 110.

The building energy object DB 130 is a DB for storing data about objectsfor the energy management of the building. The building energy object DB130 is storage for storing building energy objects extracted by thebuilding energy object extraction unit 120. The building energy objectDB 130 accumulates time-series data by continuously incorporatingtime-varying values of the objects occurring in the building into thestored building energy object data and storing resulting values. Thestored data may be data of sensors or meters installed in the building,and may generally be data received from a system called a BuildingAutomation System (BAS). The data of sensors or meters denotes data,such as a temperature, humidity, motion (presence of a person in anindoor space), illuminance, a flow rate, air volume, a pressure, and awater temperature. The data of the BAS generally denotes informationobtained from a system called a Central Control Monitoring System(CCMS), and refers to information, such as a freezer, a boiler, a pump,an air-conditioning fan, a damper, a water pressure, air volume, a flowrate, and hot and cold water temperatures. The data of the BAS may alsoinclude information such as lighting and electric heating. Further, thedata of the BAS may include other types of information related to thebuilding.

Moreover, the building energy object DB 130 is implemented in the formof a DB table as an easily managed form from the standpoint of energy ofthe building, and has columns in which monitored values of actualobjects can be recorded. The building energy object DB 130 has aninterface operating in conjunction with sensors or meters actuallypresent in the building, and periodically records actually measuredsensor values or meter values. Further, the building energy object DB130 has an interface operating in conjunction with the BAS, andperiodically records monitored values of the BAS. Therefore, thebuilding energy object DB continuously accumulates and records the stateinformation of the sensors, meters, and BAS, which are generated withtime in the building. Such accumulated information is utilized as basicdata for the management of building energy. In this case, the buildingenergy object DB is composed of a plurality of tables, wherein thenumber of tables is variable without being limited, depending on thescale and characteristics of a building or the number andcharacteristics of objects.

The building energy management unit 140 functions to manage a waste ofenergy in the building based on the data of the time-varying buildingenergy objects accumulated in the building energy object DB 130, andinduce optimal energy consumption if possible. For example, the buildingenergy management unit 140 performs the operation of turning offlighting when no one is present in an indoor space, or turning off anair-conditioning fan or a fan coil unit in a situation in whichair-conditioning is unnecessary. Alternatively, in a space, such as aconference room, which is variably used, energy is managed according toa reservation scheduling in such a way that when a reservation is notmade, air-conditioning is not performed or lighting power is turned off.That is, the building energy management unit 140 functions to sense theoperating states of energy supply parts of a building, for example, afreezer, a boiler, an air-conditioning fan, a pump, and a cooling fan,based on the building object data accumulated in the building energyobject DB, and optimize the supply of energy, thus managing buildingenergy. Further, the building energy management unit 140 performs themanagement function of sensing elements consuming the energy of thebuilding based on the building object data stored in the building energyobject DB, recognizing the condition of a waste of energy, and thenreducing the consumption of building energy. In this way, the buildingenergy management unit 140 enables optimal energy consumption to beperformed in consideration of the condition of the waste of energy inrelation to the states of energy objects of the building using variousmethods.

The building energy object management unit 150 functions to add, removeor revise the object data of the building energy object DB when asensor, a meter, or a BAS is added to or removed from the building or isreplaced with another one in the building. By means of this function,the connection interface between the individual objects of the buildingenergy object DB 130 and existing sensors, meters, and BAS is changeddepending on the degree of a change. Further, the building energy objectmanagement unit 150 is also used to map the objects of sensors andmeters of the building and the objects of the BAS to the building energyobject DB 130.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the building energy object extractionunit according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the building energyobject extraction unit.

Referring to FIG. 2, the building energy object extraction unit 120includes a control unit 121 and a mapping table 122. The building energyobject extraction unit 120 may include the mapping table 122 includingrules for mapping between BIM objects obtained from BIM data through theBIM analysis unit 110 and objects of the building energy object DB 130.Then, the building energy object extraction unit 120 may include thefunction of selecting objects obtained from the BIM analysis unit 110and transferring the selected objects to the building energy object DB130. The mapping table 122 may be revised by a manager depending on thechange in the structure, shape, sensors, meters, and the BAS of thebuilding.

Referring to back FIG. 2, the control unit 121 is configured to comparea BIM object received from the BIM analysis unit 110 with the mappingrules stored in the mapping table 122, and if the received BIM object ispresent in the mapping table 122, add a building energy object to thebuilding energy object DB 130 depending on the rules of the mappingtable 122. In this case, the control unit 121 functions to extract thebuilding energy object stored in the mapping table 122 from all piecesof data received from the BIM analysis unit 110.

Hereinafter, a building energy management method according to thepresent invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a building energy management methodaccording to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the building energy management method is performedin the sequence of steps S110 to S140. At step S110, BIM data isreceived and parsed, and then BIM objects are analyzed. At step S120,building energy objects related to building energy are extracted fromthe BIM objects. At step S130, the building energy objects are arrangedinto a DB, and then data about building energy objects is stored in thebuilding energy object DB. At step S140, the energy of the building ismanaged based on the building energy data. If the respective steps areperformed, a building energy management system may be easily implementedfrom the BIM data. Here, the building energy management method accordingto the present invention may be performed to further include the step ofmanaging the building energy object DB.

Step S110 denotes the step of parsing the BIM data based on the standardformat of a BIM, and analyzing pieces of information includingindividual objects and the attributes of the objects.

Step S120 denotes the step of extracting objects required for themanagement of building energy from the BIM objects obtained at stepS110.

Step S130 denotes the step of storing the building energy objectsobtained at step S120 in a DB.

Step S140 denotes the step of managing the energy of the building basedon the building energy objects stored at step S130 and actual datastored in correspondence with the building energy objects.

As described above, the present invention is advantageous in that, inorder to solve the disadvantages of the above-described conventionaltechnology, the number of manual operations conducted by persons isreduced and as many building energy objects as possible areautomatically extracted, thus enabling the implementation of digitalinformation.

Further, the present invention is advantageous in that it extractsbuilding energy objects from BIM data by utilizing a BIM used as astandard in the fields of buildings and converts the building energyobjects into digital information in the form of a DB, and it connectsthe building energy object DB to sensors, meters, heat source equipment,lighting equipment, etc. in an actual building, thus monitoring thestates of the building and managing building energy based on thebuilding energy object DB.

As described above, in the building energy management apparatus andmethod according to the present invention, the configurations andschemes in the above-described embodiments are not limitedly applied,and some or all of the above embodiments can be selectively combined andconfigured so that various modifications are possible.

What is claimed is:
 1. A building energy management apparatuscomprising: a Building Information Model (BIM) analysis unit forreceiving and parsing BIM data and then analyzing BIM objects; abuilding energy object extraction unit for extracting building energyobjects related to building energy from the BIM objects; a buildingenergy object database (DB) for storing a building energy object datainto a DB by arranging the building energy objects; and a buildingenergy management unit for managing energy of a building based on thebuilding energy object data.
 2. The building energy management apparatusof claim 1, further comprising a building energy object management unitfor managing the building energy object DB.
 3. The building energymanagement apparatus of claim 1, wherein the BIM analysis unit parsesthe BIM data through an Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) browser. 4.The building energy management apparatus of claim 1, wherein thebuilding energy object extraction unit comprises: a mapping table forindicating relationships between the BIM objects and the building energyobjects; and a control unit for transferring objects corresponding tothe mapping table, among the BIM objects, to the building energy objectDB, wherein the mapping table can be revised by a manager.
 5. Thebuilding energy management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the buildingenergy object DB includes an interface operating in conjunction with asensor or a meter present in the building.
 6. The building energymanagement apparatus of claim 1, wherein the building energy object DBperiodically stores data about building energy-related actual objects,such as a sensor, a meter or a Building Automation System (BAS) presentin the building.
 7. The building energy management apparatus of claim 2,wherein the building energy object management unit adds, removes orreplaces object data of the building energy object DB as a sensor, ameter or a BAS of the building is added, removed or replaced.
 8. Thebuilding energy management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the buildingenergy management unit senses a condition of energy supply and managesthe supply of energy to the building, or senses a condition of energyconsumption and manages energy consumption of the building.
 9. Abuilding energy management method comprising: receiving and parsingBuilding Information Model (BIM) data and then analyzing BIM objects;extracting building energy objects related to building energy from theBIM objects; storing a building energy object data into a buildingenergy object database(DB) by arranging the building energy; andmanaging energy of a building based on the building energy object data.10. The building energy management method of claim 9, further comprisingmanaging the building energy object DB.
 11. The building energymanagement method of claim 9, wherein analyzing the BIM objects isconfigured to parse the BIM data through an Industry Foundation Classes(IFC) browser.
 12. The building energy management method of claim 9,wherein extracting the building energy objects is configured such that:objects corresponding to a mapping table, among the BIM objects, arestored in the building energy object DB, the mapping table indicatesrelationships between the BIM objects and the building energy objects,and the mapping table can be revised by a manager.
 13. The buildingenergy management method of claim 9, wherein the building energy objectDB includes an interface operating in conjunction with a sensor or ameter present in the building.
 14. The building energy management methodof claim 9, wherein the building energy object DB periodically storesdata about building energy-related actual objects, such as a sensor, ameter or a Building Automation System (BAS) present in the building. 15.The building energy management method of claim 10, wherein managing thebuilding energy objects is configured to add, remove or replace objectdata of the building energy object DB as a sensor, a meter or a BAS ofthe building is added, removed or replaced.
 16. The building energymanagement method of claim 9, wherein managing the building energyobjects is configured to sense a condition of energy supply and managethe supply of energy to the building, or to sense a condition of energyconsumption and manage energy consumption of the building.